Kamal Hassan, Barrie M Osborne to work together

Barrie M Osborne and Kamal Hassan are collaborating on their much awaited international film project.

Lord of the Rings producer Barrie M Osborne and actor-director Kamal Hassan are collaborating on their much awaited international film project.

The project is still in a nascent stage with just the ideation happening, said Osborne, who flew down to Singapore to announce the association with the Tamil thespian on the sidelines of the IIFA weekend here.

"I have been interested in working with Indian artistes in the past but a story is what compels me to make a film. Kamal's concept inspired me and the discussions we've had convinced me that it would be something worthy for us to pursue," Osborne told PTI.

The Hollywood producer said he met Hassan several times in the past and decided to work together on a film after seeing his work on Vishwaroop. "I am impressed by what he has accomplished on Vishwaroop. After that we started talking about ideas and about the possibility to work together. His knowledge about history, literature and films is encyclopedic. Kamal presented an idea to me that was so compelling that I couldn't resist working with him," he said.

Osborne hopes that their collaborative effort will focus on Indian history and culture. "Everybody wonders about who we are, where we came from. We could tell a story about the history and culture of India but on a Hollywood template," Osborne said.

Hassan, 57, said he was honoured to work with Osborne. "You keep doing your work, after sometime you don't know whether you are doing good work or not. Its only when people like Barrie come up to you, all the hard work makes sense. He has worked with the champions in Hollywood like Coppola," said Hassan.

"I am honoured and glad that he liked one of my ideas and we are working on it. I thought this would be a good venue to let the world know about what we are going to do. Its an important moment in my career I thought I would share it with you," he added.

The film is yet to be titled and Hassan's role in it, be it that of a director, writer or actor, is yet to be decided. "It's an idea, we are still on the page, we cannot let you look at it. We did not want to base it on the Ramayan or the Mahabharat as everybody does it. This is a more international film. We are looking at the whole gamut of people, what we are," Hassan said.

"Barrie is thinking of an international Hollywood film, so it will be in English," he added. Osborne said he has already been to India 4-5 times and would like to shoot his film there if the script required.

"I have been to Chennai and Mumbai and Hyderabad. I know a lot of Tamil actors. We would be doing some work in India. We will do what the story compels us to," said Osborne.